7 december 2015 - From 7 to 11 December, the Clingendael Academy hosts a delegation of high-ranking civil servants from various Ministries of Vietnam that work towards the implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) in Vietnam.

This one week programme serves as the kick-off for a three year-cooperation between Vietnam and The Netherlands. The project is aimed at strengthening Vietnam’s capacity to successfully implement the obligations under the UNCAT and to effectively write its reports to the Committee Against Torture.

Vietnam has signed the convention in 2013 and ratified it early 2015. The UNCAT entered into force in March 2015. Under the supervision of the head of delegation Lieutenant General Ngoc Anh Nguyen form the Ministry of Public Security in Vietnam, a group of 10 members participates at Clingendael for a first week of studies and discussion. They represent the Ministries of Public Security, Justice, Foreign Affairs, the Public Prosecution Service and the High Court of Vietnam.

Opening
Professor Cees Flinterman, former member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the UN Sub-Commission for the prevention of Discrimination of Minorities, provided the opening lecture, and shared with the participants interesting insights from a UN Human Rights Committee perspective.

In the presence of His Excellency Nguyen Van Doan, the Vietnamese Ambassador to The Netherlands, the programme was officially opened on Monday morning by Mr Arjen van den Berg, the deputy director of the Asia-Oceania department from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mr Wilbur Perlot, deputy director of Clingendael Academy. Both stressed the importance of the UNCAT and expressed that this training programme would provide a fruitful cooperation towards the successful implementation in Vietnam.

National Action Plan
The overall goal of this week’s programme is to start developing a National Action Plan for the successful implementation of the UNCAT. This first week aims both at strengthening Vietnam’s capacities in Human Rights reporting obligations, as well as illustrating how the Netherlands has organised the process of writing a report and collecting data. This programme offers various sessions supporting these goals, with activities ranging from working visits to the Detention Centre at Schiphol Airport, the Police Academy and the International Court of Justice, as well as interactive working sessions on human rights reporting obligations, the role of NGOs, the national preventive mechanism and a workshop on policy planning.

Extensive cooperation
The cooperation with the government of Vietnam within the framework of this project will take place until the end of 2017. During the coming years of cooperation, the Clingendael Academy will organise three one-week courses in the Netherlands, as well as three Hanoi based modules of two days. For more information about this programme, please contact the course coordinators Ms. Mariska Heijs or Mr. Adriaan Zondag.